REPORT: Top Texas Officials Pocket $6.3 Million From Blackout Profiteers

Donors tied to 36 companies that private lawsuits allege manipulated natural gas markets to improperly profit from 2021’s deadly Winter Storm Uri contributed $6.3 million to seven top Texas officials a new study by Texans for Public Justice and Public Citizen’s Texas Office finds.

Read the news release:

Read the full report:

REPORT: Oil Barons Backed Paxton Impeachment Officials with $12 Million

Three ultra-conservative, oil-tycoon billionaires moved $12 million in campaign funding to 17 officials directly involved in Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial, a new study finds. Recipients include defendant Paxton, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who acts as the trial’s judge, and a majority of the 31-member Senate jury, according to the report by Texans for Public Justice and the Texas Office of Public Citizen.
Read the full media release.

Read the complete report.

TPJ Seeking Data Specialist

Texans for Public Justice is seeking a part-time Database Specialist to help with some exciting government transparency / conflict of interest work.

The position is $20/hour for a flexible schedule averaging 5-10 hours per week. This is a remote position, with a preference for someone in Texas.

This would be a good opportunity for someone to be part of a larger project that is bound to shake things up in Texas.

More info here and below, and thanks for spreading the word.

Two-thirds of board members overseeing Texas public universities are Abbott donors. -- Texas Tribune

Texas Tribune analysis found that more than 70% of Abbott's appointees to Texas university boards have donated to his gubernatorial campaign fund.  About 30% of the appointees have given more than $100,000. A Tribune analysis also found that the larger and more prestigious the university system, the more likely its board is to be stacked with deep-pocketed donors.

  

 

Read the full story at the Texas Tribune.

POT OF GOLD: Did Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller’s trusted, troubled strategist shake down Texas hemp growers?

In the Texas Observer TPJ's Andrew Wheat exposes a political consultant's shake down of Texas hemp growers.

 Read the full story at the Texas Observer.

Report highlights RRC progress on designating critical energy infrastructure.

A new report from Commission Shift and Texans for Public Justice finds that most facilities on the natural gas supply chain have been designated critical. Poor agency record keeping procedures leave questions about which facilities have been granted or denied exceptions to critical infrastructure designation. Confidentiality requirements leave the public in the dark about which facilities will actually be required to be weatherized, while a handful of private companies enjoy special access to regulators and the electricity supply chain map.

Access the new report at Commission Shift.

Washington Post: 7 years later, still no trial for Ken Paxton

AUSTIN, Texas — Not many people charged with felony crimes go seven years without ever standing trial. One of them is Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

 

Read the full story at the Washington Post.

From OPEN SECRETS: Conflicts at Texas Railroad Commission

 

While Texas’ top oil and gas regulators were deciding whether to permit a disputed oil waste disposal site, their campaigns raised tens of thousands of dollars from donors tied to the case.

Read the news at Open Secrets.

Whistleblowers Say Paxton Lying About Allegations

Read the latest about Ken Paxton and the whistleblowers accusing him of lying on the campaign trail at the Texas Tribune.

AG Paxton: Texas Exceptionalism on Corruption

TPJ's Andrew Wheat's essay on the corruption trail of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. 

 New in the Texas Observer.